designed by ole scheeren, partner of OMA, ‘the interlace’ adopts a new residential typology which breaks away from the standard isolated, vertical apartment towers of singapore. the large-scale complex takes a more expansive and interconnected approach to living through communal spaces which are integrated into its lush surrounding greenbelt. thirty-one apartment blocks, each standing at six-storeys tall and identical in length, are stacked in a hexagonal arrangement to form eight large open and permeable courtyards. the layered formations allow light and air to flow through the architecture and surrounding landscape. developed by capitaland and hotel properties limited, the interlace covers 170,000m2 of gross floor area and will house 1,040 apartment units of varying sizes.

the stacked buildings image courtesy of OMA

the design capitalizes on the generous size of the site which stretches between singapore’s kent ridge, telok blangah hell and mount faber parks. the location of the complex is situated at the junction of alexandra road and depot road, bounded by the ayer rajah expressway to the north. connected with the gillman village, residents can enjoy nature trails and restaurants which are within walking distance. each of the eight courtyards have an individual landscaped identity defined within the heart of the project, forming various focal points and orienting devices for the surrounding residential blocks. the primary route through the project leads residents from the main entrance to the courtyards. the number of paths and pedestrian circulation is a response to the location and density of residents around each courtyard and core residence. secondary footpaths connect residents to the most direct routes from the building entrances to and from their homes. a continuous loop which surrounds the site provides a one-kilometer running track and connects the courtyards to the activities around the edge of the site.

an aerial rendering of the interlace’s hexagonal formations image courtesy of OMA

landscaping takes up eight-hectares, with the arrangement of the buildings maximizing the presence of the surrounding tropical floral by introducing extensive roof gardens, landscaped sky terraces, cascading balconies and lush green areas. the continuous landscape is also projected vertically, from the planting of green areas in open-air basement voids, through balconies and rooftop gardens. the private balconies give apartments large outdoor space and personal planting areas. cascading gardens spill over the facades of the buildings drawing a visual connection between the elevated green refuges and expansive tropical landscape on the ground. complex is also embedded within tropical flora, letting nature expand. sky gardens provide panoramic views across the interlace site and throughout the complex.

the architectural design also incorporates sustainability features through careful environmental analysis of sun, wind and micro-climate conditions on site and the integration of low-impact passive energy strategies. water bodies have been strategically placed within wind corridors as a means of allowing evaporative cooling to happen along the wind paths, reducing local air temperatures and improving thermal comfort in outdoor recreation spaces.

a detail of how the buildings are stacked upon one another image courtesy of OMA

as someone above mentioned about the sixties, it falls into the same modernist problem regarding context: it too far removes residents from each other and the urban context. Modern boxes in undifferentiated space. The architecture separates rather than connects.

Terrible. I lived at Gillman Heights for 9 years, in one of the buildings they are tearing down to make way for this abortion. The whole beauty of the site is that it is on some of the highest ground in Singapore, and consequently enjoys a constant supply of wind — an exceedingly rare commodity in Singapore. This design completely squanders this advantage. And as for breaking away from the existing “typology” of private residential architecture in Singapore, that’s just a bad joke. Instead of taking advantage of the large (by Singapore standards) land area by leaving a big chunk of it open and undeveloped (which is how it is now), they are going to chop it up into a bunch of claustrophobic little hexagons, each cluttered with the Singapore standard-issue “resort living” crap (water fountains, potted palms, and God knows what else). Moreover, the hype-artists fail to mention that the site is bounded on one side by *the busiest* — and loudest — highway in Singapore (the Ayer Rajah Expressway). A main flaw of the existing design is that several of the blocks face this road. At the very least, I would have expected the new design to do better in this regard (to be fair to the designers of the condemned estate, the AYE was probably much quieter when Gillman Heights was built, some 20 years ago). But as far as I can tell, there will be (proportionally) *more* rather than fewer units facing this road. I’m sure the units will sell like hotcakes, because hype sells in Singapore, but I pity the people who have to live in this thing.

this is so dumb, you’ll have to do so much walking down hallways just to get to a room on the top floor. There can’t really be a staircase or elevator that goes all the way from bottom to top, can there?

I think there is a common block through the structures which will have to accommodate the elevator shaft and the garbage disposal chute. What is not clear that the wastewater lines will have lots of bends to reach the ground and hence strong possibility for blockages!

Why does everyone think the best solution to urban planning is to shove an unreasonable amount of people into close quarters. It feels gross and is gross living in that kind of density. Also it looks like a retirement community.

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